Day 11: Land-ho, St Martin

We sailed through the night and everyone was happy to see the sunrise. It had been a long upwind sail in darkness and it was nice to have some light. Spirits were lifted even further when we spotted St Martin in the distance. God Speed Mary made extremely good time and arrived on anchor shortly before 2pm. Ian was on the helm for a complete 2 hours throughout the night sail, while Holly and Brandon were troopers with the navigation checks. Rioja got into town a little later, with almost her entire crew getting on the helm. Paul, Sophia (Rosacker), Steph, Abbie and Aidan sailed during the pitch black hours of the night. Both boats were delighted to be on anchor, jump in the water, shower and sit down to a bacon and sausage brunch. Once the boats had been cleaned the crews headed ashore to Marigot. It felt nice to have solid ground beneath our feet and to enjoy crepes ashore.

An early night was called for and the crews headed back to boats. Every one of the crew should be proud of themselves. Last night was a long and difficult sail and they kept their spirits up, they all helped out steering the boat and joined in the fun of sailing our boat from The British Virgin Islands to St Martin. It may not have the most pleasant 24 hours for everyone but it shows great strength of character on their parts to do it with a smile on their faces and to keep making each laugh.